Chromatograph with integrated display unit

ABSTRACT

A gas chromatograph is provided with a main body, a detector 4, a display 11, and a display processing unit 132. The display 11 is provided in the main body. Further, a touch panel type display screen is included in the display 11. The display processing unit 132, based on a detection signal from the detector 4, displays a chromatogram in a first graph region in the display screen, and, based on a touch operation performed by an operator with respect to the first graph region, modifies the display in the first graph region.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a chromatograph that displays in adisplay screen a chromatogram obtained based on a detection signal froma detector.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Usually, a data processing apparatus formed of a personal computer isconnected to a chromatograph. A detection signal from a detectorprovided in the chromatograph is input to the data processing apparatus,and, based on the detection signal, the data processing apparatusperforms calculation, and thereby, a chromatogram is obtained (forexample, see the following Patent Document 1).

The chromatogram thus obtained is displayed in a display which isprovided separately from the chromatograph. The display has a relativelylarge display screen so that an operator can easily confirm the data.

RELATED ART Patent Document

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 5206504.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

In the conventional chromatograph as described above, unless the dataprocessing apparatus is activated, the operator cannot confirm the data.Therefore, it is necessary for the data processing apparatus to bealways in an activated state during an analysis, and, when the analysistime is long, there is a problem that power consumption increases.Further, for an operator performing an operation with respect to achromatograph, it may be more convenient to be able to confirm data in amain body of the chromatograph.

Therefore, it has been considered to provide a data processing unit fordata processing, and a display in a main body of a chromatograph.However, it is difficult to secure a space enough for providing adisplay with a large display screen in a main body of a chromatograph.Therefore, in a main body of a chromatograph, it was difficult toconfirm details of a chromatogram or to confirm while comparing analysisresults of multiple times.

The present invention is accomplished in view of the above-describedsituation, and provides a chromatograph that allows a detailedconfirmation operation of a chromatogram displayed based on a detectionsignal from a detector to be easily performed in a main body.

Means for Solving the Problems

(1) A chromatograph according to the present invention includes a mainbody, a detector, a display, and a display processing unit. The detectoris provided in the main body and detects a sample and outputs adetection signal. The display is provided in the main body and has atouch panel type display screen. The display processing unit, based on adetection signal from the detector, displays a chromatogram in a graphregion in the display screen, and, based on a touch operation withrespect to the graph region in the display screen, modifies the displayin the graph region.

According to such a structure, an operator, by only performing a touchoperation with respect to the touch panel type display screen providedin the main body, can confirm the graph region after modification in thedisplay screen while modifying the display in the graph region in thedisplay screen.

Therefore, a detailed confirmation operation of the chromatogramdisplayed in the graph region can be easily performed in the main body.

(2) Further, the display processing unit, based on a touch operationwith respect to the graph region in the display screen, may display inan enlarged scale or in a reduced scale the chromatogram displayed inthe graph region.

According to such a structure, by displaying in an enlarged scale anoteworthy portion of the chromatogram displayed in the graph region,details of the portion can be easily confirmed in the main body.Further, by displaying in a reduced scale the chromatogram displayed inthe graph region, the entire chromatogram can be easily confirmed in themain body.

(3) The display processing unit, based on a touch operation with respectto the graph region in the display screen, may superimposingly displaythe chromatogram displayed in the graph region and another chromatogram.

According to such a structure, comparison of the chromatogram displayedin the graph region with another chromatogram can be easily performed inthe main body.

(4) The display processing unit, based on a detection signal from thedetector, may display a chromatogram in the graph region in the displayscreen while allowing the chromatogram to change in real time, and,based on a touch operation with respect to the graph region in thedisplay screen, stops the changing of the chromatogram, and, based on atouch operation with respect to the graph region thereafter, modifiesthe display in the graph region.

According to such a structure, a changing chromatogram can be displayedin real time in the graph region, and, by performing a touch operationwith respect to the graph region, the changing of the chromatogram canbe stopped and the display in the graph region can be modified.

Therefore, while the chromatogram can be displayed in real time, when adetailed confirmation operation of the chromatogram is performed, theconfirmation can be easily performed by stopping the changing of thechromatogram.

(5) The display processing unit, after stopping the display of thechromatogram in the graph region in the display screen, when a touchoperation with respect to the graph region has not been performed for acertain period of time, may resume the changing of the chromatogram.

According to such a structure, that a stopped chromatogram is displayedfor a long time in the graph region can be suppressed. Further, since itis unnecessary to perform an operation for resuming the changing of thechromatogram, a confirmation operation is further facilitated.

Effect of Invention

According to the present invention, the display in the graph region canbe modified by only a touch operation with respect to the displayscreen. Further, the graph region after modification can be confirmed inthe display screen. Therefore, a detailed confirmation operation of thechromatogram displayed based on a detection signal from the detector canbe easily performed in the main body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structural example of a gaschromatograph according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating specific structures of acontroller of the gas chromatograph of FIG. 1 and peripheral members ofthe controller.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display modeof a display screen in a state of a basic screen.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed bythe controller,

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example in which anenlarged screen is displayed, which is an example of a display mode ofthe display screen in a state of an edit mode.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example in which achromatogram is displayed in a reduced scale, which is an example of adisplay mode of the display screen in the state of the edit mode.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state immediately after thedisplay screen is in a compare mode, which is an example of the displaymode of the display screen in a state of the compare mode.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which, in thefirst graph region, a chromatogram of a previous analysis issuperimposingly displayed with respect to a chromatogram under analysis,which is an example of a display mode of the display screen in the stateof the compare mode.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which a portion ofa chromatogram in a second graph region is selected, which is an exampleof a display mode of the display screen in the state of the comparemode.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which, in thefirst graph region, a portion of a chromatogram of a previous analysisis superimposingly displayed with respect to a chromatogram underanalysis, which is an example of a display mode of the display screen inthe state of the compare mode.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 1. Overall Structure of GasChromatograph

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structural example of a gaschromatograph according to an embodiment of the present invention. Thegas chromatograph is for performing analysis by supplying a sample gastogether with a carrier gas into a column 1, and includes, in additionto the column 1, a column oven 2, a sample introduction unit 3, adetector 4, and a hollow main body 10 accommodating these components,and the like.

The column 1 is formed, for example, from a capillary column. The column1 is accommodated together with a heater and a fan (both are notillustrated in the drawings) in the column oven 2.

The column oven 2 is for heating the column 1, and drives the heater andthe fan as appropriate at the time of analysis.

The sample introduction unit 3 is for introducing a carrier gas and asample gas into the column 1, and a sample vaporization chamber (notillustrated in the drawings) is formed therein. A liquid sample isinjected into the sample vaporization chamber, and the sample vaporizedin the sample vaporization chamber is introduced together with a carriergas into the column 1. Further, a gas supply flow path 5 and a splitflow path 6 are communicatively connected to the sample vaporizationchamber.

The gas supply flow path 5 is a flow path for supplying a carrier gasinto the sample vaporization chamber of the sample introduction unit 3.

When a carrier gas and a sample gas are introduced into the column 1using a split introduction method, the split flow path 6 is a flow pathfor discharging a part of a gas (a mixed gas of the carrier gas and thesample gas) in the sample vaporization chamber to the outside at apredetermined split ratio.

The detector 4 is formed of various detectors such as a hydrogen flameionization detector (FID). The detector 4 sequentially detects samplecomponents contained in a carrier gas introduced from the column 1.

In the gas chromatograph, when a sample is measured, the sample to bemeasured is injected into the sample introduction unit 3. Then, thesample is vaporized in the sample vaporization chamber. Further, acarrier gas is supplied via the gas supply flow path 5 to the samplevaporization chamber of the sample introduction unit 3.

The sample vaporized in the sample vaporization chamber is introducedtogether with the carrier gas is introduced into the column 1. Thesample components contained in the sample are separated in a process ofpassing through the column 1, and are sequentially introduced into thedetector 4.

Then, in the detector 4, the sample components contained in the carriergas introduced from the column 1 are sequentially detected. Further,based on a detection result of the detector 4, a chromatogram isgenerated.

2. Specific Structures of Controller and Peripheral Members

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating specific structures of acontroller of the gas chromatograph of FIG. 1 and peripheral members ofthe controller.

The gas chromatograph includes, in addition to the above-describeddetector 4, a display 11, a memory 12, and a controller 13.

The display 11 is provided in the main body 1 (see FIG. 1). As will bedescribed in detail later, the display 11 includes a touch panel. Thatis, in the gas chromatograph, using the display 11, an operator canperform confirmation of information and an input operation whileperforming analysis.

The memory 12 is formed of, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) and aRAM (Random Access Memory) and the like. The memory 12 stores previousdata 121. The previous data 121 is data of a chromatogram generated by adata processing unit 131 to be described later, and is data generatedduring a previous analysis.

The controller 13 includes, for example, a CPU (Central ProcessingUnit). The controller 13 can input or output an electric signal from orto the detector 4 and the display 11. The controller 13 inputs oroutputs data to or from the memory 12 as necessary. The controller 13functions as a data processing unit 131 and a display processing unit132 by causing the CPU to execute a program.

The data processing unit 131 obtains a chromatogram based on a detectionsignal from the detector 4. Further, when an analysis is completed inthe gas chromatograph, data of a chromatogram generated by the dataprocessing unit 131 is stored in the memory 12 as the previous data 121by rewriting the existing data.

The display processing unit 132, based on the data of the chromatogramgenerated by the data processing unit 131, performs processing todisplay the chromatogram in the display 11. Further, the displayprocessing unit 13, based on an input signal from the display 11 due toan operation on the touch panel and the previous data 121 in the memory12, performs processing to modify a chromatogram to be displayed in thedisplay 11.

3. Screen Structure of Display Screen

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display modeof a display screen 111 in a state of a basic screen.

The display screen 111 of a touch panel type is included in theabove-described display 11. The display 11 is provided in the main body10 (see FIG. 1), and an operator can confirm the display screen 111 onthe main body 10. Specifically, the display 11 is provided on a frontsurface of the main body 10 so that an operator can easily operate.Further, usually, an openable and closeable door is provided on thefront surface of the main body 10. That is, the display 11 is arrangedin a relatively small space on the front surface of the main body 10such that a space for arranging a door or the like is secured.

The display screen 111 is formed in a substantially rectangular shape.The display screen 111 includes an operation display region 112 and afirst graph region 113.

The operation display region 112 is arranged on an upper side in thedisplay screen 111. The operation display region 112 is a region fordisplaying operation conditions of various parts of the gaschromatograph. For example, in the operation display region 112,operation conditions such as a temperature of the column 1, atemperature and a pressure in the sample introduction unit 3, a flowrate of a carrier gas supplied into the sample introduction unit 3, atemperature of the detector 4, and the like are displayed.

The first graph region 113 is arranged on a lower side in the displayscreen 111. The first graph region 113 is a region for displaying aresult of data processing by the data processing unit 131 as a graph,and, specifically, a region for displaying in real time a chromatogramgenerated by the data processing unit 131. A chromatogram is displayedin which a horizontal axis represents time and a vertical axisrepresents signal strength.

Such a screen structure of the display screen 111 is a basic screen ofthe display screen 111. Then, the display processing unit 132, as willbe described later, based on a touch operation on the display screen 111by an operator, modifies display content of the display screen 111.

4. Control Operation of Controller and Display Mode of Display Screen

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process performed bythe controller 13.

Usually, in the display screen 111 of the display 11, as illustrated inFIG. 3, the above basic screen is displayed. Then, when a chromatogramis generated by the data processing unit 131 based on a detection signalfrom the detector 4, the display processing unit 132 displays in realtime the chromatogram in the first graph region 113 (step S101).

Specifically, in a state in which the basic screen is displayed in thedisplay screen 111, in the first graph region 113, a graph A which is achromatogram generated by the data processing unit 131 is displayed soas to move from the right to the left. In the graph A, content displayedon the right end side corresponds to a chromatogram generated in realtime. Then, the content displayed on the right end side of the graph Amoves toward the left side as time elapses, and, as time furtherelapses, disappears from the first graph region 113.

In this way, while the basic screen is displayed in the display screen111 of the display 11, the chromatogram generated by the data processingunit 131 is displayed in real time as the graph A in the first graphregion 113. Then, an operator performs various analyses by confirmingthe graph A.

Further, from this state, when a touch operation is performed withrespect to the first graph region 113 (YES at step S102), the displayprocessing unit 132 first stops the movement of the graph A in the firstgraph region 113 and sets the display screen 111 to an edit mode (stepS103). In the state in which the display screen 111 is in the edit mode,the display processing unit 132, as will be described later, based on atouch operation with respect to the first graph region 113, modifies thedisplay content of the first graph region 113.

Further, after the display screen 111 is in the edit mode, when acertain period of time has elapsed during which a touch operation withrespect to the first graph region 113 is not performed (YES at stepS104) and when the analysis has not been completed (NO at step S105),the display processing unit 132 resumes the real time display of thechromatogram in the first graph region 113 and thereby returns thedisplay screen 111 to the basic screen. Then, when the analysis in thegas chromatograph has been completed (YES at step S105), the displayprocessing unit 132 terminates the control operation with respect to thedisplay screen 111.

On the other hand, from a state in which the basic screen is displayedin the display screen 111, when a touch operation with respect to thedata processing unit 131 is not performed (NO at step S102) and apredetermined touch operation for selecting a compare mode is performedon the display screen 111 (YES at step S106), the display processingunit 132 sets the display screen 111 to the compare mode (step S107). Inthe state in which the display screen 111 is in the compare mode, aswill be described later, two regions displaying chromatograms aredisplayed (a two-screen display is displayed).

Then, from a state in which the display screen 111 is in the comparemode, when a predetermined touch operation for canceling the comparemode in the display screen 111 is performed (YES at step S108) and theanalysis has not been completed (NO at step S105), the displayprocessing unit 132 returns the chromatogram to a one-screen display,and resumes the real time display of the chromatogram in the first graphregion 113, and thereby, returns the display screen 111 to the basicscreen. Further, when the analysis in the gas chromatograph has beencompleted (YES at step S105), the display processing unit 132 terminatesthe control operation with respect to the display screen 111.

A predetermined touch operation in the display screen 111 is, forexample, an operation of touching a button (not illustrated in thedrawings) displayed in the display screen 111, or the like.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example in which anenlarged screen 114 is displayed, which is an example of a display modeof the display screen 111 in the state of the edit mode. Further, FIG. 6is a schematic diagram illustrating an example in which a chromatogramis displayed in a reduced scale, which is an example of a display modeof the display screen 111.

With reference to FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, the display mode of the displayscreen 111 in the state of the edit mode is described.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in the state in which the basicscreen is displayed in the display screen 111, depending on the displaycontent of the graph A, there may be a case where a highly accurateanalysis cannot be performed unless the details of the display contentis further confirmed. In order to address such a case, the displayprocessing unit 132, based on a touch operation with respect to thefirst graph region 113, sets the display screen 111 to the edit mode andmodifies the display content of the first graph region 113 as follows.

Specifically, in the state in which the display screen 111 is set to theedit mode, when a touch by an operator with respect to a predeterminedportion of the first graph region 113 is continued for a certain periodof time (when a long press with respect to the first graph region 113 isperformed), as illustrated in FIG. 5, the display processing unit 132displays the enlarged screen 114 in the display screen 111.

The enlarged screen 114 is superimposingly displayed in the first graphregion 113. In the enlarged screen 114, a certain region of the firstgraph region 113 centered on the portion that is continuously touchedfor a certain period of time is displayed in an enlarged scale.

In FIG. 5, by continuously touching a region B illustrated in FIG. 3,the display screen 111 in the case of the edit mode is displayed. Thatis, in FIG. 5, the region B illustrated in FIG. 3 is displayed in anenlarged scale in the enlarged screen 114.

Further, from this state, when a touch operation is performed withrespect to the enlarged screen 114, the display processing unit 132,based on the touch operation, modifies the display content in theenlarged screen 114.

For example, from a state in which a portion of the enlarged screen 114is touched by an operator, when a sliding operation is performed so asto shift the touch portion, the display processing unit 132 moves thedisplay in the enlarged screen 114 in the sliding direction. Further,from a state in which any two places in the enlarged screen 114 aretouched by an operator, when a sliding operation (pinch out) isperformed so as to expand the touch portion, the display processing unit132 further enlarges the display in the enlarged screen 114. Further,from the state in which any two places in the enlarged screen 114 aretouched by the operator, when a sliding operation (pinch out) isperformed so as to narrow the touch portion, the display processing unit132 reduces the display in the enlarged screen 114.

Further, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in the state in whichthe basic screen is displayed in the display screen 111, there may be acase where it is desirable to confirm the entire chromatogram. In orderto address such a case, the display processing unit 132, based on atouch operation with respect to the first graph region 113, sets thedisplay screen 111 to the edit mode and modifies the display content ofthe first graph region 113 as follows.

Specifically, in the state in which the display screen 111 is set to theedit mode, from a state in which any two places in the first graphregion 113 are touched by an operator, when a sliding operation (pinchin) is performed so as to narrow the touch portion, as illustrated inFIG. 6, the display processing unit 132 displays a reduced graph C inthe first graph region 113. The graph C shows the entire chromatogramgenerated by the data processing unit 131 during a period until thedisplay screen 111 is in the edit mode.

Further, although not illustrated in the drawings, in the state in whichthe display screen 111 is set to the edit mode, from a state in whichany two places in the first graph region 113 are touched by an operator,when a sliding operation (pinch out) is performed so as to extend thetouch portion, the display processing unit 132 displays a graph furtherenlarged from the graph A illustrated in FIG. 3 in the first graphregion 113.

Then, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed during which atouch operation with respect to such a first graph region 113 is notperformed, the display processing unit 132 terminates the edit mode ofthe display screen 111. Then, when the analysis has not been completed,as illustrated in FIG. 3, by resuming the real time display of thechromatogram in the first graph region 113, the display screen 111 isreturned to the basic screen.

FIGS. 7-10 are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of display modesof the display screen 111 in the state of the compare mode.Specifically, FIG. 7 illustrates a state immediately after the displayscreen 111 is in the compare mode. Further, FIG. 8 illustrates a statein which, in the first graph region 113, a chromatogram of a previousanalysis is superimposingly displayed with respect to a chromatogramunder analysis. Further, FIG. 9 illustrates a state in which, in asecond graph region 115, a portion of a chromatogram is selected.Further, FIG. 10 illustrates a state in which, in the first graph region113, a portion of a chromatogram of a previous analysis issuperimposingly displayed with respect to a chromatogram under analysis.

With reference to FIGS. 7-10, the display mode of the display screen 111in the state of the compare mode is described.

For example, in the state in which the basic screen is displayed in thedisplay screen 111, depending on the display content of the graph A,there may be a case where a highly accurate analysis can be performed bycomparing with data of a previous analysis. In order to address such acase, the display processing unit 132, based on a touch operation withrespect to the display screen 111, sets the display screen 111 to thecompare mode and modifies the display content of the display screen 111as follows.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, in the display screen 111 in the compare mode,the above-described first graph region 113 is displayed on the lowerside and the second graph region 115 is displayed on the upper side.

In the first graph region 113, as described above, the graph A which isa chromatogram generated by the data processing unit 131 is displayed soas to move from the right to the left. That is, in the first graphregion 113, the chromatogram is displayed in real time.

The second graph region 115 is a region for displaying a chromatogramgenerated during a previous analysis, and a graph D corresponding to theprevious data 121 stored in the memory 12 is displayed. Further, in thesecond graph region 115, the graph D is displayed so as to move from theright to the left so as to correspond to the graph A displayed in thefirst graph region 113. That is, immediately after the display screen111 is in the compare mode, in the display screen 111, two regions aredisplayed each showing a chromatogram, and the chromatogram in eachregion is displayed so as to move.

An operator, by confirming the display screen 111 in this state,compares the chromatogram generated in real time by the data processingunit 131 with the chromatogram generated during the previous analysis.

Then, from this state, when a touch operation is farther performed withrespect to the display screen 111, based on the touch operation, thedisplay processing unit 132 modifies the display content.

Specifically, in the state in which the display screen 111 is set to thecompare mode, when a touch operation with respect to the first graphregion 113 or the second graph region 115 by an operator, the displayprocessing unit 132 first stops the movement of the graph A in the firstgraph region 113 and the movement of the graph D in the second graphregion 115.

Then, from a state in which a portion of the second graph region 115 istouched by an operator, when a sliding operation (drag) is performed soas to shift the touch portion downward, as illustrated in FIG. 8, thedisplay processing unit 132 superimposes a graph F on the graph A in thefirst graph region 113. The graph E is a graph obtained by copying thegraph D displayed in the second graph region 115.

That is, in the first graph region 113, the graph A which is achromatogram under analysis and the graph E which is a chromatogram of aprevious analysis are superimposingly displayed in a state in whichtheir horizontal axes (time axes) are associated with each other.

In this case, it is preferable that the graph A and the graph E aredistinguished from each other by, for example, displaying them indifferent colors.

Then, from the first graph region 113 in this state, an operatorevaluates reproducibility by confirming a correspondence relationshipbetween a peak in the chromatogram under analysis and a peak in thechromatogram of the previous analysis.

Further, from the state in which the display screen 111 is in thecompare mode, when predetermined two places in the second graph region115 are touched by an operator, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the displayprocessing unit 132 selects a region F for which a time range is set bythe two touched places. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 10, the displayprocessing unit 132 superimposes a graph G on the graph A in the firstgraph region 113. The graph G is a graph obtained by selecting andcopying the portion of the graph D displayed in the region F in thesecond graph region 115.

That is, in the first graph region 113, the graph A which is achromatogram under analysis and the graph G which is a portion of achromatogram of a previous analysis are superimposingly displayed in astate in which their horizontal axes (time axes) are associated witheach other.

In this case, it is preferable that the graph A and the graph G aredistinguished from each other by, for example, displaying them indifferent colors.

Then, from the first graph region 113 in this state, an operatorevaluates reproducibility by confirming a correspondence relationshipbetween a peak in the chromatogram under analysis and a peak in thechromatogram of the previous analysis.

Further, when the analysis in the gas chromatograph is completed, asillustrated in FIG. 2, the data processing unit 131 stores the generatedchromatogram as new previous data 121 in the memory 12 by rewriting theexisting previous data 121.

5. Operation Effect

(1) In the present embodiment, in the gas chromatograph, the display 11is provided in the main body 10. Further, the touch panel type displayscreen 111 is included in the display 11. Then, the display processingunit 132, based on a detection signal from the detector 4, displays achromatogram in the first graph region 113 in the display screen 111,and, based on a touch operation with respect to the first graph region113, modifies the display in the first graph region 113.

Therefore, an operator, by only performing a touch operation withrespect to the touch panel type display screen 111 provided in the mainbody 10, can confirm the first graph region 113 after modification inthe display screen while modifying the display in the first graph region113 in the display screen 111.

Therefore, a detailed confirmation operation of the chromatogramdisplayed in the first graph region 113 can be easily performed in themain body 10.

(2) Further, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5, thedisplay processing unit 132, based on a touch operation with respect tothe first graph region 113 in the display screen 111, displays theenlarged screen 114. Similarly, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the displayprocessing unit 132, based on a touch operation with respect to thefirst graph region 113 in the display screen 111, displays in a reducedscale the chromatogram displayed in the first graph region 113.

Therefore, by displaying in an enlarged scale a noteworthy portion ofthe chromatogram displayed in the first graph region 113, details of theportion can be easily confirmed in the main body 10. Further, bydisplaying in a reduced scale the chromatogram displayed in the firstgraph region 113, the entire chromatogram can be easily confirmed in themain body 10.

(3) Further, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and10, the display processing unit 132, based on a touch operation withrespect to the second graph region 115 in the display screen 111,superimposingly displays a chromatogram of a previous analysis withrespect to the chromatogram displayed in the first graph region 113.

Therefore, comparison of the chromatogram displayed in the first graphregion 113 with a chromatogram of previous analysis can be easilyperformed in the main body 10.

(4) Further, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 4, fromthe state in which the display screen 111 is the basic screen, based onthat a touch operation has been performed with respect to the firstgraph region 113 in the display screen 111 (YES at step S102), thedisplay processing unit 132 stops the changing of the chromatogram andsets the display screen 111 to the edit mode (step S103). Then, from thestate in which the display screen 111 is in the edit mode, based on thata touch operation has been performed with respect to the first graphregion 113 in the display screen 111, the display in the first graphregion 113 is modified.

Therefore, while the chromatogram can be displayed in real time bysetting the display screen 111 to the basic screen, when a detailedconfirmation operation of the chromatogram is performed, by setting thedisplay screen 111 to the edit mode, the confirmation can be easilyperformed by stopping the changing of the chromatogram.

(5) Further, in the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 4, in thestate in which the display screen 111 is in the edit mode, when acertain period of time has elapsed in a state in which a touch operationwith respect to the first graph region 113 is not performed (YES at stepS104) and when the analysis has not been completed (NO at step S105),the display processing unit 132 resumes the real time display of thechromatogram in the first graph region 113 (step S101) and therebyreturns the display screen 111 to the basic screen.

Therefore, that a stopped chromatogram is displayed for a long time inthe graph region can be suppressed. Further, since it is unnecessary toperform an operation for resuming the changing of the chromatogram, aconfirmation operation is further facilitated.

6. Modified Embodiments

In the above description, the chromatograph of the present invention isdescribed as being applied to a gas chromatograph. However, thechromatograph of the present invention may also be applied to a liquidchromatograph.

Further, in the above description, it is described that, when thedisplay screen 111 is in the compare mode, a chromatogram of a previousanalysis is displayed in the second graph region 115. However, it isalso possible that, in the second graph region 115, one chromatogramselected from multiple chromatograms generated during past analyses isdisplayed. Specifically, multiple data sets of chromatograms generatedduring past analyses are stored in the memory 12, and, when the displayscreen 111 is in the compare mode, the display processing unit 132 maydisplay in the second graph region 115 a chromatogram based on one dataset selected from the multiple data sets.

Further, in the above description, it is described that the modificationof the display in the graph region is performed based on a specifictouch operation with respect to the graph region. However, it is alsopossible that the display in the graph region is modified based on atouch operation other than the above-described specific touch operation.That is, the touch operation when the chromatogram displayed in thegraph region is display in an enlarged scale or in a reduced scale, oris superimposingly displayed with another chromatogram is not limited toa long press operation, a pinch out operation, a pinch in operation, adrag operation or the like. For example, it is also possible to modifythe display in the graph region based on various other touch operationsuch as an operation (tap) in which the same position of the displayscreen is continuously touched twice.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   4: detector-   10: main body-   11: display-   13: controller-   111: display screen-   113: first graph region-   115: second graph region-   132: display processing unit

What is claimed is:
 1. A chromatograph comprising: a main body; adetector that is provided in the main body and detects a sample andoutputs a detection signal; a display device that is provided in themain body and has a touch panel display screen; and a display processingunit that, based on a detection signal from the detector, displays achromatogram in real time in a graph region designated to display thechromatogram in real time in the display screen, and, based on a touchoperation with respect to the graph region in the display screen,modifies a display in the graph region, wherein the display processingunit, based on a detection signal from the detector, displays achromatogram in the graph region in the display screen while allowingthe chromatogram to change in real time, and, based on a touch operationwith respect to the graph region in the display screen, stops thechanging of the chromatogram, and, based on a touch operation withrespect to the graph region thereafter, modifies the display in thegraph region.
 2. The chromatograph according to claim 1, wherein thedisplay processing unit, based on a touch operation with respect to thegraph region in the display screen, displays in an enlarged scale or ina reduced scale the chromatogram displayed in the graph region.
 3. Thechromatograph according to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit,based on a touch operation with respect to the graph region in thedisplay screen, superimposingly displays the chromatogram displayed inthe graph region and another chromatogram.
 4. The chromatographaccording to claim 1, wherein the display processing unit, afterstopping a display of the chromatogram in the graph region in thedisplay screen, when a touch operation with respect to the graph regionhas not been performed for a certain period of time, resumes thechanging of the chromatogram.